Android News

Mobile advertising firm AdMob has published a new report showing that iPhone users are twice as likely to purchase apps as their Android-using counterparts. The report finds that despite relatively similar habits of downloading a total number of apps each month, iPhone users were twice as likely to open their checkbooks for the stuff they really want.

So why don’t Android users pay for apps more often? Cheapness? Since the most popular apps in the Android Market are free and dwarfed similar paid products (even some that may be superior), that’s an easy assumption to make. But I don’t really think Android users are cheap. Sure, there are plenty of cheapskates, but that’s more of a human issue than a platform issue. Besides, we’ve seen complaints from plenty of non-U.S. Android users who would gladly pay for the chance to get certain apps — or paid apps at all in some countries.

So what’s the real reason for the discrepancy? My guess is that it boils down to numbers – there are more iPhone users, more apps, and more time on the market to be established. The iPhone platform has a much bigger pool of users, meaning it probably draws from a more statistically diverse pool of people willing to spend money on apps. More potential buyers leads to more apps. Thus, there are thousands of more apps to choose from, so iPhone users see more apps that they deem worth a buck or two. Even with the Android Market’s indirect preview policy, there are far less apps out there to entice people to loosen their purse strings.

AdMob says Android users download about 9 apps per month with a ratio of 1 paid to 8 free. On the other hand, iPhone users report 10 apps with 2.6 paid.

Only 19% Android users buy an app each month; 50% iPhone users buy at least one paid app a month.

The estimated number of Android users is 3 million compared to 26.4 million iPhone users and 18.6 million iPod Touch users.

17 Comments

I'd like to point out that many countries don't yet have an official way to purchase Android apps. I had to root mine and install Maked Enabler in order to do so. I wonder if this couldn't account for some of the "cheapness" as I really don't see why there should be a difference!

Also, stats suggest Android users keep and use their apps more – so apps are more "meaningful" to Android users perhaps? I'd suggest an Android user is less likely to pay 99c for a fart app than an iPhone user… purely based on numbers.

I know I have no problem buying a quality app that is superior to something i can get for free. i have a few paid apps I am very loyal to. What kind of apps to iphone users buy? There really is not a lot of good quality apps that cost money. I see android is still in development. One we get some more of the mass market apps then more will be bought.

I've bought a few apps, and the apps I have paid for were worth the few bucks! But Android has two issues right now (and I agree with previously mentioned metrics regarding iPhone demographics vs Android) 1) paying for an app means that app should provide a premium value, and I haven't seen many (and iPhone still gets the love with great apps like Mint.com's app) 2) if there are a lot of great apps, how can we find them? The Android app store isn't really satisfying with regarding to sorting and delineating what apps I get exposed to – so it's hard for me to really find them – even *with* sites that have contents and app reviews.

This article fails to get a worldwide perception of the problem : when most countries do not have access to the Android Market for obscure Google limitation's reasons, then of course these people won't buy paid apps. We all need to root our devices to be able to install Market Enabler, and from there we can buy apps. But getting into other issues, as rooting a HTC Hero prevents it to get access to copy-protected applications (free or paid)… So globally : it is a mess, even bigger than Apple's approval process.

I mention at the end of the 2nd paragraph that there's a large number of Android users who don't have access to paid apps. The lack of access severely affects the commercial potential of Android and I think we're all in agreement that more needs to be done to make paid apps widely available to consumers everywhere.

Perhaps this just shows that the free Android apps are better quality than the free iPhone apps? iPhone has been touted as the platform to make a million on, whereas Android is touted as open. So perhaps the appdevs who write for the pleasure (rather than the money) are heading towards the Google platform. Many of the best and most frequently-used apps on my Magic are free: NewsRob, TwiDroid, AndNav2, Locale, K9, etc.

Precisely, globo. This is the reason I'm going to root my G1 tonight – the ability to save apps to the SD card will definitely increase the number of apps that I'll be installing. For the average user, who doesn't feel comfortable with rooting, the tiny onboard memory on the G1 means that each app installed leads to a big decision-making process of what to pull off to make room.

It boils down to Android users sense of entitlement because everything should be free and open source. Apple users on the other hand will buy whatever pile of crap Apple puts in front of them. Would be nice if there was a middle ground somewhere on a platform that doesn't suck (Windows Mobile could fill that void, but it has been an epic failure considering it's had a 10 year head start).

No, no, no. I agree with John. It is the difference in culture. Sure there are not many of those linux-open-source-gnu-creative-commons types out there, but which device do you think they would use? What percentage of these people would be in the position to develop an app? What are the chances they would give it away for free. Look all it takes is one great free product to stop millions of app purchases. Google maps (not really open, but free) makes it so that TomTom or any gps turning apps cant compete, who would pay money for something inferior? Have VLC on your phone, well when you do, who would ever pay for a inferior music player. All it takes is one dedicated GNU-head to steal millions of paid app profits form someone else. I love that about android and this free-app movement. I think a mostly 'free-app' culture can compete as well or better than the 'pay-for-everything' culture. (Yeah, you probably need some economic incentive for the niche apps, but usually the more free the better.) What you had with the Apple culture was a comodification of every use of your smart phone, suddenly any grad with a CS degree or a programing neophyte with a penchant for all things Apple figured that this would be the way to make some real money! But old stuffy Linux guys (and gals?) who were compiling kernels in '91 were just giving this stuff away for ages! I, for one, hope it stays this way. Let's work together to change our culture SUPPORT FREE SOFTWARE! http://flattr.com/